As the all-time high temperature is making life difficult even for the people having all the cooling gadgets at their disposal, there is one colony in the city which is facing the problem of low voltage. The voltage remains so low that even fans do not run. The low voltage has been a problem in the colony for the past more than one-and-a-half years. Residents of the Rose Garden colony in the Basti Peer Daad area have complained to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) many a time, but to no avail.

Residents of the Rose Garden colony sitting in the open due to low voltage in their area in Jalandhar.(Sikander Singh Chopra/HT Photo)

As the all-time high temperature is making life difficult even for the people having all the cooling gadgets at their disposal, there is one colony in the city which is facing the problem of low voltage. The voltage remains so low that even fans do not run. The low voltage has been a problem in the colony for the past more than one-and-a-half years. Residents of the Rose Garden colony in the Basti Peer Daad area have complained to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) many a time, but to no avail.

When this reporter visited some of the houses in the colony, some of the people were sitting in their backyards fanning themselves manually, while others were sitting under fans running very slowly at a voltage of around 100 volt against the required 220 volt.

Mohan Singh, a driver and a colony resident, said that the voltage drops to 80 volt at night as people in the area, who are at work during the day, turn on the fans and other appliances during the night. “My daughter is just one-and-a-half- year-old and it becomes very difficult for her at night in such a high temperature,” said Ranjit Singh Rathore, another area resident. It has been learnt that some of the households are also using stabilisers to manage the voltage.

Cause of crisis

The Rose Garden colony is not authorised by the municipal corporation. When the colony was established some eight years ago, the coloniser only provided a single phase power line through a nearby transformer, which was sufficient at that time as it had only eight to nine houses at that time. With years, as the residences in the areas increased, there is drop in the voltage due to the increase in the number of power consumers.

PSPCL pays no heed, say residents

Residents complained that even though it has been over one year since they complained about the crisis, officials have not done anything to solve the problem.

They alleged that junior engineers (JEs), who visited the area, asked for ‘development charges’ for giving proper power supply, after learning that it was an unauthorised colony.,”